Final Project: McCarthy Wellness Center

ARC 3546: Architectural Design III-B

BCS 3126: Building Construction Studio IV

Professors:

Architecture

• Associate Professor Alexis Gregory
• Professor John Poros
• Ryan Ashford, studio assistant

Building Construction Science

• Briar Jones, lecturer
• Visiting Assistant Professor Cindy Walls

Background:

The proposed use for this project was a student wellness center to bring MSU Recreational Sports, Health Promotion & Wellness, Collegiate Recovery Community, and Student Counseling Services together under one roof.

Student Counseling Services currently offers confidential, one-on-one counseling; group therapy; and other mental health services. Issues with their current location in Hathorn Hall such as space constraints and location were addressed with this project.

The Health Promotion & Wellness center would encompass sexual health and screening, the Collegiate Recovery Community, and Drill Field event storage. These programs are currently spread out on campus and need more space for growth.

Recreational Sports would function as a satellite gym for the south side of campus to allow for the university's growing student enrollment. The space would also include a devoted faculty fitness area.

Assignment:

Half of the Collaborative Studio was tasked with renovating and designed an addition to the historic McCarthy Gym at Mississippi State, and the other half of the studio was asked to demolish the gym and design a new building on the same project site.

The students researched building codes, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), historic preservation requirements, and precedents. They created a project program and built the existing building in Revit. The students also studied the current campus plan and future master plan and proposed changes based on the project needs and their design ideas.

All of this work resulted in an 80,000 square-foot project that the architecture and building construction science students created in 20 teams of 4-5 students per team.

Projects:

Group 3: Samuel Carpenter, Matthew Churchill, James Broadhead, and Cullen Bumpous     

Group 8: Aaron Jones, Brandon Jones, Evan Henderson, and Philip Herring

Group 10: Drew Maxon, Osman Morales, Zachary Majure, and Jacob Malmstrom

Group 12: Kayla C Perez, Swayze Rawlings, Nicholas McCarty, and Jazmine Melton

Group 14: Nathaniel Roesener, Spurgeon Sanders, Bradford Owen, and Timothy Pena

Group 15: Dylan Setliff, Grace Sheridan, Nicholas Perry, and David Peyton

Group 16: Carly Shows, Mileena Slade, Colton Pierce, and Jacob Roberson